Architecture of Monumentality: A Critical Analysis of In-Game Representations of Washington, D.C.

Abstract

In recent decades, video games have become a billion-dollar industry, serving as a ubiquitous interactive media. With significant technological advancements in graphics and performance, their fidelity in the representation of the built environment has improved the immersive experience, leading to increased impact on the player’s understanding of the architectural identity of places. Video games reference urban conditions to contextualise narratives yet are able to provide an additional dimension of navigability and interactivity within these virtual spaces. As a result, this medium has a considerable influence on the players’ awareness of and engagement with architectural and urban environments. The digital representation of spatial conditions becomes a substantial component of level design, with titles often relying on tropes and iconography associated with particular cities to contextualise virtual environments. Due to globalisation, Washington D.C. has become universally recognised as the epicentre of Western politics, housing many iconic architectures that shape their distinctive urban environments. Numerous video games take advantage of this recognizability and significance by siting their narratives within the city’s iconic urban and cultural identity. 

This paper examines the potential influence of in-game caricatures of architectural space on identity and urban memory within the global collective consciousness. By analysing the portrayal of Washington D.C. within prevalent video games; the paper examines their approach and use of urban context within the gameplay. Engaging several game modalities, including alternative histories, post-apocalyptic futures, espionage, and vehicular exploration, this paper presents trends of representation predominant within individual game categories. Through the assessment of the aforementioned titles, abstraction of the urbanscape, celebrity of architectural landmarks, contextualisation through prominent architectures, and ironic manipulation of architectural imagery emerge methods of falsification of the urban context. This paper concludes with a discussion of the impact of in-game representations of cities on the public’s perception and understanding of architectural and urban space.